Knockdown furniture



Nov. 8, 1966 F. scHRGHuBl-:R 3,284,152

KNOCKDOWN FURNITURE Filed Oct. 14, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet l NOV- 8, 1956 F. SCHRGHUBER KNOCKDOWN FURN l TUBE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 14, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 F. SCHRGHUBER KNOCKDOWN FURNITURE 'EQ-i5 tlg/2 Nov. 8, 1966 Filed oct. 14, 1964 United States Patent Office 43,284,152 Patented Nov. 8, 1966 3,284,152 KNOCKDOWN FURNITURE Franz Schrghuber, Munich, Germany, assigner to Kche 'und Haustechnik G.m.b.H., Munich, Germany Filed Uct. 14, 1964, Ser. No. 403,834 Claims pn'ority, application Germany, Dec. 10, 1963, K 51,586 19 Claims. (Cl. 312-257) The present invention relates t-o a piece of furniture capable of being disassembled and more particularly to kitchen furniture.

More specifically, the article of kitchen furniture is of the type including a front frame, planar-like walls or panels, with the frame being joined to the walls or panels by supports of substantially U-shaped cross section and with -at least one side element of said substantially U- shaped cross section being engageable in a groove of the wall or panel associa-ted therewith via a flange-like component extending at right angles to the side element in the direction of the opposite side element.

In a known piece of furniture capable of being disassembled, the support is fabricated from a metal having a certain degree of resilience and, while such arrangement makes it possible to compensate for small errors as regards proper lit, it is nevertheless necessary due to the fact that the support is not suiiiciently rigid for the cross section of the support to surround or encompass the enclosed edge of the wall for iittting closely on all sides. Obviously, this means a very accurate arrangement and, moreover, problems arise if other parts or components are attached to the metal cross section by screws or kindred connecting elements which must project a distance into the interior of the cross section of the support. This latter objectionable feature is especially disadvantageous when the supports can yonly be inserted or removed by longitudinal displacement since the pushing out of a wall from the cross section of the support is prevented by the fixed components which project into the interior of the support.

The present invention is predicated upon providing a piece of furniture which is so constructed as to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantageous features as well as reduce the cost thereof, with the structural details being so formed and related to permit the easy assembly of the piece of furniture while assuring a reliable attachment of the parts constituting the same.

The invention is directed to a cabinet or similar furniture piece capable of being disassembled comprising a front frame and planar wall members, means for assembling the planar wall members to the frame defined by supports having a channel-like cross-section, at least one Side wall of each support having an inwardly directed iiange cooperable with a groove formed in one side of the wall member with lwhich such support is cooperable and the inwardly directed flange having a width in excess of the depth of the groove of the wall member associated therewith. Additionally, `the side wall opposite the side wall having the inwardly directed flange may be straight throughout its length and the free end thereof supports a shoulder provided for the side of the wall member opposite the side of the groove with the depth of the support exceeding the depth by which the wall member is engaged.

Moreover, the side wall opposite the side wall having the inwardly directed flange may be provided with an inwardly directed liange cooperable with a -groove formed in the side of the wall member opposite the groove in said one side with the depth of the support exceeding the depth `by which the wall member is engaged.

Moreover, the presence of hollow spaces in the cross section of a rigid support does not involve any reduction of material importance in the rigid joint but affords a substantially simplified manipulation of the walls or panels to be introduced into the supports and door hinges or the like. Connecting means projecting into the interior of the cross section of the supports can be applied thereto without longitudinal displacement of the walls in the supports being prevented.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, given by way of example.

FIGURE l is a sectional plane view of a frame in accordance with the invention furniture of the type indicated, the side and intermediate walls attaching to the posts of the frame being shown disassembled, and adjacent to the frame.

FIGURE 2 shows a section corresponding to FIGURE 1 in which the right Side wall is xed to a post of the frame.

FIGURES 3 and 4 each show a similar sectional plan view, in which a side post is adapted to form an abutment for a closed door.

FIGURES 5, 6 and 7 give similar plan views of frame posts showing how adjacent pieces of furniture can be joined.

FIGURE `S shows a metal frame similar to that in FIG- URE 1, viewed from the front.

FIGURE 9 is a section along the line IX-IX of FIG- URE 8, upper and lower horizontal plates attaching to the frame being indicated.

FIGU-RE 1-0 is a section along the line X-X in FIG- URE 8 showing a door disposed respectively on the two side posts.

FIGURE 1l is a section along the line XI-XI of FIG- URE 8, in which the insertion of a rubber pad in a recess of one side post of the frame can be seen.

FIGURE l2 is a vertical section through a further em* bodiment of an alternative form of an article of furniture.

FIGURE 13 is a plan view of the piece of furniture shown in FIGURE 12, with the cover plate removed.

FIGURE 14 is a section along the line XIV-XIV of FIGURE 13.

FIGURE l5 is the same representation as in FIGURE 14 but viewed from above.

FIGURE 16 is a view similar to FIGURE l2 showing another piece of furniture with the frame in accordance with the invention.

The frame at 1 in FIGURE 1 forms the front of a kitchen cabinet or table, not shown in detail and in which only two side wall members or panels 2 and 3, in midper-pendicular partition wall member or panel 4 and two front doors 5 and 6 are shown diagrammatically. The remaining construction of the kitchen cabinet or table can take any known form but preferably use is made of the proposals explained below.

The frame 1, formed of metal in the embodiment shown consists of two side supports 7 and ti and a center support 9 which is connected by welding to a frame member 10 which also carries the side supports 7 and 8. The `supports 7, 8 and 9 each are of substantially U-shaped cross section and are provided with an opening extending in the direc-tion of the wall member or panel to be connected thereto and for receiving the edge of the members or panels. It will be seen that the two side supports 7 and 8 are each provided with a flange-like member 13 adjacent opening 11, with such liange extending towards leg 12 of the support. The wall members or panels 2 and v supports 7 and 8. It will be appreciated that the grooves 14 are reduced at their outer surfaces facing away from each other and are adapted to be yforced into the supports 7 and 8 by the shoulders 15 to a wall thickness smaller lby the amount of the thickness of the supports.

The center vertical support is provided with a slot 16 somewhat narrower than the thickness of the intermediate wall member 4. The wall member is formed with a vertical longitudinal groove 14a on each side to enable the member 4 to be pushed into the support. The distance of the two longitudinal grooves 14a from the front edge of the intermediate wall member may be less than the depth of the cavity of the cross section in the longitudinal direetion of the wall member 4 to attain a clearance.

With the construction described, the front edges of the wall members or panels 2 and 3 and also of the intermediate wall member 4 can be inserted by their front faces into the slots 11 or 16 of the supports 7, 8 and 9 as shown for example `in FIGURE 2 at the point of the right hand support 8 and the right hand wall member 3. When the wall 'has been inserted into the support a firm joint results without the necessity for screwing or other fixing and since the wall members do not have to abut against the front edge of the support, the production of the perpendicular longitudinal grooves 14, as far as the distance from the front face of the wall is concerned, does not require any specially close margin of tolerance. It is simply necessary for the longitudinal grooves 14 and the shoulders 15 of the side wall members and the opposed perpendicular longitudinal grooves 14a of the intermediate Wall member 4 to be accurately mutually positioned, and this can be achieved by simultaneously cutting the grooves and shoulders.

In accordance with FIGURE l, the center support 9 of the metal frame 1 also forms the upright for the free end of doors 5 and 6 hinged to the two side supports 7 and 8 in any convenient manner. In accordance with FIGURE 3, a suitably shaped door 6a could butt against a side support 8a, for which purpose the side support is provi-ded with a projection 17 at the rear thereof, which extends into the enclosed space of the frame and formed from the metal of the frame. While this projection is Iapproximately half the width of the support cross section, the projection 17a of FIGURE 4 can be folded at the place shown in the figure. In this case, the door 6b can butt with the metal frame, so that their outer edges are LllSll.

With the construction of the kitchen cabinet or table described above, it is possible to construct a composite unit by two cabinets or tables adjacent to each other so that the adjacent side wall members or panels 2 and 3 (see FIGURE 5) are in mutual contact, and are connested together for example by an anchoring screw, not shown. In the case of such a series arrangement of several pieces of furniture, the wall members or panels can also be omitted, if in place thereof as shown in FIG- URE 7 a special tie bar 18 is used which is formed with a central fr-ont groove 19 and which, laterally engages simultaneously with the legs 12 of adjacent two side supports of adjacent frames. T-he bar 1S is provided in the plane of the rframe with a width exceeding the profile of the opening formed by the two supports 7 and 8. At the rear within the space of the support the bar engages at the same time both anges 13 of the adjacent supports and abuts against the same. If desired, a simple intermediate wall member or panel 20 can extend as shown in FIGURE 6 from the bar 18.

FIGURES 8 to l1 show a second embodiment of the front metal frame of a piece of furniture, which can be formed without intermediate supports simply .as a rectangular frame 21 having side supports 7 and 8 similar to the supports of the metal Iframe 1 as illustrated in FIG- URES 1-7.

As can be seen in particular in FIGURES 9 to 11, the side supports 7 and 8 have rectangular openings 22 through their inner walls extending from the front edges, and yalso a bore 23 in each of these walls. These bores can be used for reception of vari-ous parts necessary for the connection of a door 24, and serve in particular for the insertion 4and fixing of a hin-ge arm 25 of a conventional hinge 26 carrying the door 24 on its opposite side. This hinge 26 is preferably constructed in such a way that the door 24 in the closed position rests firmly against the rectangular frame 21, and on opening effects a slight translationary movement as can be seen from the Iposition 24a shown in dot-dash lines (FIGURE 1l). This slight translation allows the door to open without fouling the frame.

For fixing t-he hinge arm 25 on the side support 7 of the fra-me 21 use is made of a cap screw 27 which is screwed through the bore 23 into a tapped bore 28 at the free end of the hinge arm 25. On the abutting side of the door 24 a latch 29 is inserted in a rectangular opening 22 of the side support 8 which with its arm 30 engages the opening and which is adapted to the width of the rectangular opening, is fixed by the cap screw 27 passing through bore 23 which engages in a tapped bore 28a of the latch. A roller 31 cooperates in the usual way with the latch 29, and the roller is disposed on inner face 24b of the d-oor 24.

The side support 8 can be `provided with a further rectangular opening 22 as shown in FIGURE 1l, and into which is inserted a rubber or Iplastic padding 32 the front surface of which projects over the outer surface of frame 21.

As can be seen from FIGURE 9, two horizontal supports 33 and 34 of the rectangular frame 21 have the same cross section as the side supports 7 and 8, and the openings of both horizontal supports are disposed at the top of the rear wall. This arrangement allows a cover plate 35 and a base plate 36 to be inserted into the supports 33 and 34 but no fixing is required, if for example in conjunction with the side wall or rear wall members, safety devices are provided which prevent the members from sliding out of the supports. Such safety devices in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention shown in FIGURE 16, can consist of spring hooks 37 inserted in the lower front edge surface of the base plate 36, which in the assembled position engages over rear wall 38 of the horizontal support 34.

-In FIGURES l2 to l5 there is shown a piece of furniture that can be disassembled having a socket, and a front metal frame 39 in its lower zone at the same time forms a socket wall. As can be seen from FIGURE 12, lower horizontal support 40 of the metal frame 39 is of substantially greater height so that the arm of the support which can be seen from the front, at the same time forms the front socket wall. Into the body of the sup port 40 a horizontal Iintermediate support 41 is welded, at a distance the thickness of the base plate 36 underneath the upper arm over which the base pla-te 36 engages with its front edge. In the vicinity of its front edge, the base plate 36 is formed with a lower blind bore 42 into which a flan-ge 43 struck from the intermediate support 41 at its rear edge is positioned.

The side supports 7 and 8 of the metal frame 39 are similar structurally and functionally in the manner previously set forth with respect to the inserted side wall members 2 .and 3. The side wall members 2 and 3, each carry at their inner surfaces 44 at the height of the base plate 36, a support similar to the verticle frame supports shown in FIGURE 1 but partly illustrated in FIGURES 1,2 and 16, the opening of which is at the upper pro-le so that Ithe base plate 36 grooved on both sides corresponding to the side wall members 2 and 3 can be inserted bymeans of its side edges and its front edge into the horizontal supports. In this way `also at the rear part of the piece of furniture a fixed connection between the side wall members 2 and 3 is obtained.

For completing the furniture piece, the side wall members 2 and 3 in the vicinity of their rear ends at their inner surfaces 44 each have a vertical groove 45 and the base plate in the same plane when assembled has an upper longitudinal groove 46, as can be seen in FIGURE 12, into which a rear wall member 47 can be inserted. This rear wall member or panel 47 which furthermore strengthens the whole piece of furniture, can be fixed between the side wall members 2 and 3 by a joining strut 48 extending lengthwise over the distance between the two side wall members 2 and 3, which has a box-like cross section broken at its rear lower corner. It will be noted opening 49 thereof in section is equal to the thickness of the rear wall member 47 and when assembled is forced rover the rear wall member 47 in the manner shown in FIGURE 12. At its two sides the joining strut 48 has hook-like projections 51 which engage into upper recesses 50 of the side wall members 2 and 3, which, when the connecting strut is inserted do not project above the upper edge of the side wall members 2 and 3, and the rear wall member 47. As can be seen in FIGURES 14 and l5, the projections 51 extend from the upper side of the box section and on the lower side, two locking bolts 53 can be forced into blind holes 52 of the side Wall members 2 and 3. The locking bolts 53 at their ends turned towards each other are each provided with a neck 54 and the upper arm of the joining strut 48 in the vicinity of the necks 54 lof the locking bolts 53 has a gap 5S. The gaps 55 serve to push into the side wall member 2 or 3 by means of a screwdriver 56 or the like inserted from above through the blind hole 52 the locking bolts 53 normally in their withdrawn position as shown, after the forcing of the joining strut 48 onto the rear wall members 47 and to secure thereby the joining strut 48 in its pushed up position.

A cover plate 57 is placed on the other parts of the piece of furniture assembled in the way described and, by subsequently attached side bars 58, is fixed to an upper support 59 of the metal frame 39 and to the joining strut 43. While the bar 58 engages simply under the upper rear wall of the support 59, the joining strut 48 has at its rear vertical arm, gaps 60 in which the bars 58 can engage in the profile of the joining strut 48.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 16, the piece of furniture can consist of the same front rectangular frame Z1 together with a door 24 as shown in FIGURES 8 to l1, and the remaining constituent parts are altered as the furniture in FIGURE 16 has underneath the rectangular frame 2.1 a further setback socket 61 and an upper working plate 62 which behind its front edge projecting beyond the front of the rectangular frame 21 has a support wall 63 which along its lower edge forms a forwardly broadened base 64 with a lower groove 65 extending parallel to the plane of the frame. With reference to the construction described relating to the rectangular frame 21, the working plate 62 with its base part 64 can expediently be placed in the open profile section of the upper support 33 of the rectangular frame 21 in such a way that the grooves 65 engage over the freely upwardly projecting rear wall of the upper support 33 and thereby abuts with the front surface of its lbase part 64 on the freely rearwardly projecting upper arm part of the said support.

rlfhe metal frame described in its Various embodiments, by the advantageous joining possibility with connecting wall members or panels, makes possible a very rigid construction without prejudicing the considerable ease of disassembly of the furniture. Because of this ease of disassembly many combinations and possibilities may be envisaged which makes it possible to store separate mass produced parts with a saving of space and to transport and assemble such parts on site, with very simple means and in any desired combination. In particular, the frame construction selected at any time is not restricted to any embodiment of the piece of furniture and one assembly can be used for various types of cupboards, for example a simple cupboard provided with doors, a simple cupboard with drawers or a combined cupboard with drawers and swinging or rotating doors. The rectangular openings in the side supports of the metal frames make possible any desired positioning of a door, abutting on the right or the left side of the frame. In addition, all necessary yjoining and abutting means of the rectangular opening are adapted and can without any increased ex-4 penditure be placed on the metal frame.

The invention is not to -be conned to `any strict con formity to the showing in the drawings but changes or modifications may be made therein so long as such changes or modications mark no material departure from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A cabinet or similar furniture piece capable of being disassembled and more particularly kitchen furniture pieces, comprising a front frame and planar wall members, means for assembling said planar wall members to said frame defined by supports, having a channel-like cross section, at least one side wall of each support having an inwardly directed ange cooperable with a groove formed in one side of the wall member with which such support is cooperable, and said inwardly directed fiange having a width in excess of the depth of the groove of the wall member associated therewith.

2. The cabinet as claimed in claim 1, in which at least the side supports are provided with rectangular openings through their inner walls extending from the front edges for receiving a hinge arm and a bore for receiving a cap screw.

3. The cabinet as claimed in claim 2 in which a side support is formed with further rectangular openings and resilient pads are inserted in said latter openings with the front surface of said pads projecting over the outer surface yof the frame.

4. The cabinet as claimed in claim 1 including a tie bar having a central front groove and which simultaneously engages two side supports of adja-cent frames lying laterally adjacent to each other, said tie bar having with the plane of the frame a width exceeding that of the opening formed by the two supports, and engaging, by means at its rear within the space of the cross-section, at the same time the inwardly directed flange -of the adjacent profiles, and abutting against the same.

5'. The cabinet as claimed in claim 4 in, which the tie bar is firmly connected to the front edge of a vertical intermediate wall member which extends from the bar.

6. The cabinet as claimed in claim 1 in which the cross-section of a side support is provided on its rear with a projection which extends into an enclosed space of the frame and which is formed from the material of the frame.

7. The cabinet as claimed in claim 1 in which horizontal lower and upper supports of the frame are of a cross-section at least similar to that of the side supports, with the open sides of both such horizontal supports being arranged above at the rear.

8. The cabinet as claimed in claim 7 in which the side walls of the frame each carry on their inner surfaces at the height of a base plate for the cabinet, a horizontal support similar to that of the side supports, and the opening thereof lying at the corner of the cross-section facing towards the inner side of the cabinet, and a base plate grooved at both sides complementary to the side walls for insertion into the horizontal supports.

9. The cabinet as claimed in claim 8 including a spring hook insel-table in the lower front edge surface of the base plate and adapted in the assembled position to engage over the rear wall of the horizontal support of the frame.

1G. The cabinet as claimed in claim 9 in which the side walls in the region of their rear ends each have, on their inner surfaces, a vertical groove, and the base plate,

in the assembled condition in the same plane, has an upper longitudinal groove in which a rear wall member can be inserted.

11. The cabinet as claimed in claim 10 including a joining strut extending lengthwise over the distance between the two side walls, said strut having a cross-section providing a rearwardly open side and lower directed edge thereof being set back in relation to its upper edge by an amount equal to the thickness of the rear wall member, said joining strut which is adapted to be forced over the upper edge of the rear wall member having at its front sides hook-like projections engageable up to as far as upper recesses with which the side walls are provided.

12. The cabinet as claimed in claim 11 in which the projections extend from the upper side of the cross-section, and two locking bolts provided above the lower side of the cross-section may be displaced into blind holes provided in the side walls.

13. The cabinet as claimed in claim 12 in which the locking bolts each have a neck at their ends directed towards one another, with the upper side of the joining strut having in each case a gap in the region of the necks.

14. The cabinet as claimed in claim 7 in which an upper working plate of the cabinet behind its front edge projecting beyond the front of the frame is provided with a support wall which at its lower edge defines a forwardly broadened base having a lower groove extending parallel to the plane of the frame, said support wall engaging by means of the groove in its base over the free upwardlyprojecting rear edge portion of the upper horizontal support of the frame, thus abutting with the front surface of its base part on the free -rearwardly projecting upper side of said support.

15. The cabinet as claimed in claim 1 in which a lower horizontal support of a front frame is of such height as t0 form a front socket wall for the cabinet.

16. The cabinet as claimed in claim 15 in which the cross-section of the lower horizontal support at a distance of the thickness of a base plate underneath the upper side of the cross-section is provided with a horizontal intermediate support over which the base plate engages, and a flange extending from such intermediate support at its rear edge is located in a lower blind bore of the base plate.

17. The cabinet as claimed in claim 11 in which the joining strut -at its rear part is formed with gaps for securing a cover plate of the cabinet.

13. The cabinet as claimed in claim 1 in which the side wall opposite the side wall having the inwardly directed ange is straight throughout its length and the free end thereof supports a shoulder provided for the side of the wall member opposite the side having the groove, and the depth of the support exceeding the depth by which the wall member isv engaged.

19. The cabinet as claimed in `claim 1 in which the side wall opposite said at least one side wall is provided with an inwardly directed ange cooperable with a groove formed in the side of the wall member opposite the groove in said one side, and the depth of the support exceeding the depth by which the wall member is engaged.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,696,419 12/1954 Wallance et al. 312-257 2,966,385 12/1960 Murphy et al. 312-257 2,968,519 1/1961 Weber 312-257 X CLAUDE A. LEROY, Pri/nary Examiner.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Examiner.

F. DOMOTOR, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A CABINET OR SIMILAR FURNITURE PIECE CAPABLE OF BEING DISASSEMBLED AND MORE PARTICULARLY KITCHEN FURNITURE PIECES, COMPRISING A FRONT FRAME AND PLANAR WALL MEMBERS, MEANS FOR ASSEMBLING SAID PLANAR WALL MEMBERS TO SAID FRAME DEFINED BY SUPPORTS, HAVING A CHANNEL-LIKE CROSS SECTION, AT LEAST ONE SIDE WALL OF EACH SUPPORT HAV- 